What Inspires Us

As the President of the Antonio V. Glassberg Educational Foundation, I’d like to share some words about my friend and what inspired him to create our foundation.

Antonio was a person who paid close attention to the world around him. He and I were fortunate to have world-class educations and we knew it. At Community School in St. Louis, from Kindergarten through 4th grade one of our favorite classmates and dear friends was a red haired, energetic boy. This friend of ours asked the most questions, got the best grades and was a joy to be around. Antonio and I always loved going over to play at his house on weekends. On the first day of school in 5th grade, all of a sudden our friend wasn’t there in class and he wasn’t coming back. At the time neither of us understood why but Antonio and I eventually were told that the school and his family could no longer find a way to work together to meet the cost of private school tuition.

More than a decade later when Antonio’s cancer was terminal, he told me about the foundation he wanted to start and have me lead. “Remember when we lost our friend at school in fifth grade?” Tone asked me. “I want our foundation to find kids like him and make sure they have a chance to get incredible educations and opportunities like we did. You knew him. You know what we are looking for. I want you to run it. Kids with that kind of incredible potential should not be educationally denied.”

Each member of our Board loves Antonio and will forever be inspired by what he stood for as a person and how he thought of helping others even as he faced death. We are passionate about realizing his vision. When the foundation began in 2001, most of us were in our early 20’s. As I believe you will see in this website, today we are a highly capable experienced team who can proudly say we have already helped find and support many children befitting Antonio’s vision. Additionally, we are deeply committed to finding and helping many more.

I am confident in our ability to carry on the legacy of Antonio’s vision at greater scale for decades to come.

Matt Schnuck
January 2015

Antonio V. Glassberg Educational Foundation

We are dedicated to providing scholarships for physically challenged students to attend private elementary, middle and high schools.